Travel Stories >> CHRISTMAS 1999 in "The Little Town of Bethlehem"

CHRISTMAS 1999 IN "THE LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM"

Roger arrived home from Ulaan Baatar on the 23rd of December just in time for me to whisk him off to Bethlehem for Christmas (a surprise Christmas gift). I have to say that even though I consider myself "poly" religious and passively so at that, it was very powerful and somewhat awesome to kneel down and touch the star that marks the birthplace of Jesus Christ, down under the alter of the Church of the Nativity.

Hey, a little trivia for you... Jesus was not born in a manger/stable but in fact in a cave. (cave dwelling Christians? why does Pat Robertson suddenly spring to mind) All over the hills of Bethlehem there are ancient caves - most of which have been used for centuries by shepherds to stable their animals in at night in the winter (it gets COLD here! We had SNOW in Amman a week ago!). In retrospect, it makes much more sense that this was the "manger" described by the apostles in the retelling the birth story.

Just outside of Bethlehem proper is the field in which the shepherds were visited ("and the angel of the Lord came upon them, and they were sore afraid" I always loved that line). Anyway - didn't take the Greeks (Constantine's mother, Helena) long to build a church over the birth spot - so today's tourists actually have to crawl down steep little steps behind the altar to visit the cave underneath to see the spot. The day before Christmas when we visited - I was greeted by the President of Spain, Jose Ma. Azner, who smiled, shook my hand and wished me a Feliz Navidad - right there on the altar - (just wild!... but that's another story...)

In fact, living in this region is just so cool - sort of like living history all around you. Everywhere you travel is marked by biblical events - the Last Supper (well, Jerusalem is just a gold mine in general), Lot's wife turning to salt, the Gadarene swine incident, where John the Baptist was beheaded, and the list goes on.... Regardless of which of the religions one claims faith in - there is something cool and mystical to see everywhere. The best part about being in Bethlehem was to see the waves of pilgrims from all over the world (although I could not get used to the word 'pilgrim' without picturing Plymouth Rock and those images of Miles Standish and the big belt buckles and stiff black hats, blah...)... . we saw people from every conceivable walk of life - many in tours or with nametags so we knew they were from South Korea or Zimbabwe or the Czech Republic, or Kansas (Ughhh!! Yes, let's not forget the busloads of Americans as well). The eve of Christmas we walked into the main square in town and thrilled to watch the Latin mid-night mass.

On the slightly quirky side - The little town of Bethlehem is trying hard to 'disney-ize' - know what I mean? Make everything sort of 'new world sterile' . The lights, the evening shows in Manger Square - streets with names like "Star Street" and "Manger Street", which would all be just disgusting if it weren't for the fact that they haven't controlled and sterilized it to such an extent that you can't see the little old world town very clearly through the veneer. The people of Bethlehem, mostly Arab Christians, are still just easy going, old world carpenters, vendors, taxi drivers, shepherds, etc.. and the town is still very much a dusty little west bank town - with some extraordinary history!

Roger and I were really lucky because we were there as a result of some fancy footwork by a dear friend, Ra'ed Handal, whose family has lived there for generations and who were all home for the holidays (Arab Christian - Catholic, in fact). Having Ra'ed with us meant that we saw things and went places both in Bethlehem and to a lesser extent, Jerusalem, that many of the tour buses didn't go. AND... we had Christmas eve cookies and tea with the family in their stunning new home overlooking the valley... and the next day went into Jerusalem for a massive Christmas dinner with them as well... How better to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem than with a family of Bethlehemites - generous, fun, proud and just lovely people.

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